is a field of soft yielding sand, which the wind drives about so that graves are covered and uncovered from time to time, and often the tops of the iron crosses that mark the graves are barely visible above the yellow dust. Around the walls are a series of oven-like vaults, three deep, some sealed with bricks or plaster, others, although containing coffins, left open to the view. A more revolting, unsanitary burial-place could hardly be imagined. Yet in spite of the terrible epidemics of yellow fever and smallpox to which the inhabitants are inured, they regard this plague spot with perfect equanimity. Cartagena was for many years the starting-point from the northern coast for Bogota, the capital, but Barranquilla has taken its place in this respect. The journey up the Magdalena River is made in small steamers, although much of the merchandise is carried still in large canoes about thirty feet long. “Piraguas,” as these craft are locally called, have generally two masts which carry large, square sails, and are manned by a crew who can take an oar when the wind fails. The navigation of the river is not free from danger, and often the journey up to Bogota takes about four weeks. The roads in the country are bad, where they do exist, so that the river is the principal highway. The country people cultivate a little cotton, maize, and indigo, but the agriculture of the country is generally in a very backward state. Isolated dwellings are pitched by the banks of the river, and the inmates live a short if sad life, weaving a few mats for household use, nets for hammocks and for fishing. Their houses, mostly of reeds and bamboos, afford but the slightest protection from the heavy torrential rains. Cartagena, far removed from the capital, is a listless, almost lifeless city, and the foreigner who tries to make business headway amongst the people is doomed to cultivate patience, if he intends to remain in one of the most backward of the cities on the southern continent. [Illustration: PERU & BOLIVIA.] CHAPTER X _Ecuador_